Dramatic video captured the moment NYPD officers stopped and arrested two alleged car thieves in the Bronx on Friday — with cops pulling their guns and bashing on the stolen SUV’s windows as they tried to force the pair to give up their wild escapade.
The suspects — Bria Aponte, 30, and Kenneth Canty, 33, of Barnes Avenue in the Bronx — stole the 2013 Ford Escape near the corner of Neill and Lurting avenues in the borough’s Indian Village neighborhood around noon, police said.
The 25-year-old owner called the cops, who tracked the fleeing duo west and cornered them near a Bank of America on White Plains Road and Pelham Parkway, cops said.
Several officers ran after the SUV as it tried to cut across traffic lanes in a desperate bid to escape, a video posted to social media by NYC Scoop showed.
The car slammed into five other vehicles during a chaotic scene punctuated by the wail of police sirens and cops slamming batons on the windows to smash the glass.
“Put your hands up! On the ground!” one officer is heard yelling after the Ford finally crawled to a stop.
When the door flings open, another cop seizes driver Aponte’s arm, drags her to the grass and holds her as other police piled on, the video showed.
On the other side of the car, cops shout “Get out of the car! Get out of the car!” at Canty, who is grabbed, thrown to the ground and cuffed as the wrecked car smokes beside him, the video shows.
Police hit both suspects with a litany of charges, including assault on a police officer, assault, grand larceny, vehicular assault and leaving the scene of an accident, authorities said.
Aponte pleaded not guilty at her arraignment the following day, according to online court records.
A judge set her bail at $300,000, and she’s now in the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island.
She’s set to appear in Bronx Criminal Court on Nov. 27.
Canty, who also pleaded not guilty, was released on his own recognizance.
His next court date is Jan. 13.